Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

My first class went okay today (covering the syllabus and trying to get a sense of where the students are coming from -- mostly artists and musicians this semester, by the looks of it, so "yay!"), though I talked too fast, as usual when I'm nervous. Next Monday's class will go better, since I'll be able to get started on the meat of the course, rather than just cutting it up or trying to 'sell the sizzle, not the steak', or whatever it is we professors do during that first class period.

But my thoughts keep straying off of 'Introductory Biblical Studies'-type stuff and into the territory of slashy T.V. relationships. What can I say? I'm a weak woman.

By way of background information, I need to confess that after years of ignoring my sister's recommendations to watch Highlander, I've finally started to get hooked on the show this summer, now that Spike TV is showing two hours of it every morning.

(A bit off topic, but I'm getting a big kick out of Spike TV's whole "TV for MEN!" thing. With a morning line-up that consists of two hours of Highlander followed by MacGyver and Seven Days and a lunchtime showing of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- a veritable smorgasbord of sensitive beefcake! -- I have to wonder sometimes, is this TV that's supposed to appeal to straight guys? Or maybe it's just an Irish Spring thing: "Manly, yes, but I like it too!")

[thoughts on recent Nip/Tuck episodes and a couple of season 5 episodes of Highlander follow] ( Read more... )

Anyway, I wonder if I could apply the same "hermeneutic" to the Biblical stories of David and Saul and David and Jonathan? Hmmm . . .